80 years is a long time

Now the fields are all four lanes
And the moon's not just a name
Are you more amazed at how things change
Or how they stay the same
And do you sit here on this porch and wonder
How the time flies by
Or does it seem to barely creep along
With 75 Septembers come and gone
(Cheryl Wheelers "75 Septembers")

My mother turns 80 on Dec 16th, which is quite an accomplishment considering all she has had to endure - born before the Great Depression, The War to end all wars, Rock & Roll, etc.... raising (to varying degrees!) 11 children (8 born, 3 "steps") into successful adults (to varying degrees!)
I know how many times I joke that either Nikki or I will need to be dead before she gets through highschool. I wonder how often Mom said that about any and all of us.

So on the 13th, the children of this woman known by some as Edna, Nenna, twinny, Mrs. Blauss, Mrs. Howland, or even Golde (the part she once played in a local production of Fiddler On The Roof) threw her a surprize birthday party at Hanson's Congregational church where she is a Deacon. Over 100 people - a diverse group of old friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers - showed up to toast her.

Needless to say, in the beginning there was much brainstorming - sowing of ideas, threshing those ideas, throwing the chafe into the fires of hell, arm wrestling and name calling and pulling rank to narrow down the final decisions and details. We re-itterated what we have known all our lives - Wes (the first-borne) is the grand concept guy, Laurie (the eldest daughter) is the enforcer, Donnie, Marlene, Eric & David (the middle 4) are the snipers (keeping a safe distance and firing a few well-aimed shots now and then), Debbie (the littlest Blauss) tries to keep up but keeps getting knocked down (but God love her she keeps getting back up and rejoining the fray), and Heather (the baby - and despite the improbability of Mom being 45 and on her 2nd marriage - possibly the only "planned" baby of the lot of us) is the one who in the end gets her way because as the baby, she is the cutest and knows instinctively how to get what she wants. It's been that way since the day we were each born, and we are comfortable in our roles 35 to 58 years later.

Needless to say, in the end it was a wonderful celebration, all went smoothly, everybody had a good time and we all lived to tell about it. Mom, ever the "happy-tear" queen, stayed well hydrated - being congratulated by people she's known since school days to little "India" who isn't in school yet. Without exception, every one of the 75 (or so) non-relatives who had been invited to attend felt tremendously honored that THEY were included in the celebration. We could have easily invited triple that number and still found more who wished they could have attended. Wes, in his Director/Producer role, greated guests and stood in the wings as the actors did their scenes. Laurie and her son Chris ran and narrated the power-point "This is your life" presentation. I supplied, set up and broke down the PA equipment, chatted up the semi-famous local legend saxaphone player Dana Colley (check out the former band Morphine, or more recently, The Twinemen) and his daughter, and received visit & kayak invitations from old neighbors the Mahoney's. Marlene & David mingled, Eric stayed home in NH (his wife a longtime sufferer of emotional/mental disorders although the rest of the "married to a Blauss support group" in-laws - Joanne, Sue & Dawn -who spent most of the evening in the downstairs kitchen, waitressing snacks, and sneaking Absolut into their own punch glasses, admire her as the most clever genius of all). Debbie & Heather did their best to make certain everything went the way it should (which is quite a trick for two people who don't necessarily agree on how things SHOULD go).

Thankfully, an emergency conference of the organizing committee had decided that morning to eliminate the "Surprize" part of the party. The liability of having "unexpected overwhelming emotion syndrome" be the cause of death and therefore not actually officially making it to 80 just seemed to big a risk. SMART MOVE! Knowing it was coming, 8 hours in advance, gave her the opportunity to absorbe it a bit instead of flattening her like a steamroller. Aside from the 'long-lost-friend' type atmosphere, the highlight came from nephew Chris' description of an "Edna Compliment!" and her propensity to unitentionally insult relatives. Her two most famous ones were: once telling Heather " you could be a Miss America - if only you had a talent", and when Chris commented that his young adult club at the church had only one male member - her response was "who would that be?" There was also a surprize performance from the church based vocal group "The Hearts" - an a'cappella womens group that Mom was a member of for many years. They had, unbeknownst to the rest of us, composed a tribute song for her and sang to her at the end of the evening.

Well, the end of the official evening, anyway. Some of us siblings, steps, and in-laws needed a drink (no alcohol at the church - Congregationalists, remember?) and gathered at JJ's afterwards. Every good event team holds a review session after the event, right?
(sadly, THAT story can't be told, at least not where certain non-attending relatives might discover them!!!!)